We all feel a little rusty sometimes. Especially after a holiday or when we’ve taken time away from our accent practice. It’s easy to get those post holiday blues and start thinking where did all my progress go? Is it gone? Am I starting from square one again?
The bad news is your American accent probably isn’t as strong as before your holiday but the GOOD news is that with a little bit of practice you can get right back to where you left off with your accent. So here’s my tips on how to get that American accent back after a holiday.
1. Think positive
The important thing to remember is to stay positive, remind yourself of your goals and make small steps to getting closer to achieving your goals.
2. Prioritise
If you want your American accent goal to ACTUALLY happen then you need to make it a priority. It will happen but only if you make it a priority for yourself.
3. Troubleshoot
Check in with yourself, your articulators to see what’s making you rusty? You need to be aware of what’s getting in the way so you can make the appropriate changes to get your accent back on track.
4. Get back to basics
Perhaps you need to spend some time on those articulators so they’re ready to speak in the accent. Get back to basics, do your warm-up exercises so your vocally and physically ready to perform.
5. Practice every day
The key to accent freedom is on-going daily practice. Even if you have a busy day make sure you are doing at least 1 thing for your practice. Every day doesn’t need to be a lengthy practice BUT you should be doing something every day. Perhaps on a busy day you could recite the street signs you see in your American accent. That way you’re still getting in some practice on-the-go. There’s no excuse not to practice.
So now it’s up to you to do the work.
Practice leads to progress and progress leads to accent perfection.